“THEN IT’S A LIE, OF COURSE”: LYING, SECRECY, AND DECEIT WITHIN SELECTED WORKS OF HORATIO ALGER, JR. by Brandi Williamson Ettehadieh Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Middle Tennessee State University December 2016 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Alicia M. Renfroe, Chair Dr. Carl Ostrowski Dr. David Lavery To Lincoln, whose beautiful presence in the world became the extra motivation I needed to finish this six-and-a-half-year endeavor. This dissertation will make for a good lesson on perseverance someday. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For so long, the completion of this dissertation has seemed like something verging on a complete impossibility. After leaving Murfreesboro and academia, starting a career in an entirely different field, and growing our family, the process only became more challenging. With all of the obstacles, there is no question that this work could not have been completed without the help of many remarkable individuals. No matter how many times I say “thank you” to my dissertation chair, Dr. Mischa Renfroe, it will never be enough. Her ongoing words of encouragement were critical when I needed a boost (and those times were many), and the guidance and knowledge she provided is unparalleled. She invested countless hours in this dissertation, and I could not have had a better advisor. This project truly could not have been done without her, and I am forever grateful. I also thank Drs. Ostrowski and Lavery for agreeing to serve as readers for this project—their knowledge and support have been both valuable and enlightening. A huge thank you goes to two of the people I was lucky enough to meet as a result of my time working in MTSU’s College of Graduate Studies: Dr. Peter Cunningham and Amber Bollinger. The two of them have no idea how much the pep talks and “fires” they lit pushed me when I needed it, even when my progress was stalled. I also thank them for providing much-needed doses of humor along the way. The kindness that Dr. C. has shown me is remarkable, and is something I will never forget. He will also unquestionably continue to hold the title of “best boss ever.” It goes without saying that I am immensely appreciative of the unwavering support that my husband, Ramin Ettehadieh, has given me. For years, he has constantly iii let me bounce ideas off of him that are outside of his area of expertise, offered suggestions, and just listened when I needed an ear or started to unravel. He has heard more about this project than anyone, and is probably equally excited for its completion. His ongoing belief in my abilities is something that never goes unrecognized, and I could not ask for a better life partner. Finally, I have to extend a very special thank you to my mother. She has been the biggest cheerleader for anything I have ever pursued, providing me with encouragement, words of wisdom, and some reality checks along the way. She manages to believe in me when I doubt myself, which is something that occurred often during my time in this program. And, everything seems to come full circle when I realize that she is a modern- day Horatio. There are countless cards, emails, texts, and notes from throughout the years that have always encouraged me and have made sure to mention that “with hard work and determination, you can achieve anything.” iv ABSTRACT This dissertation examines scenes of deceit in selected Horatio Alger, Jr. texts and explores parallels to Alger’s complicated biography. For decades, readers and scholars alike believed that Alger’s biography mirrored the lives of his protagonists who exemplified the virtues of honesty and hard work. An initial assessment of Alger’s novels suggests that he regularly repeated the same formulaic rags-to-riches plot; however, a closer look at his stories reveals that his protagonists often benefit from good luck and rely on deception as they play a variety of roles on the path to success and middle class respectability. Alongside Gary Scharnhorst’s enlightening Alger biography, The Lost Life of Horatio Alger (1985), the major texts examined in this study are Ragged Dick: Or, Street Life in New York with the Boot-blacks (1868), its sequel Fame and Fortune: Or, The Progress of Richard Hunter (1868), Helen Ford (1866), Tattered Tom; Or, The Story of a Street Arab (1871), A Fancy of Hers (1892), and The Disagreeable Woman: A Social Mystery (1895). A close analysis of these novels reveals multiple scenes of deceit—an area often neglected in studies of nineteenth-century American literature that tend to focus on adult con men and women. Also, an analysis of Alger’s little-known novels with female protagonists foregrounds his complicated representation of gender and performance. This project argues that deception plays an integral, often ignored, role in Alger’s formula for success and reveals much about the social context of America during the latter half of the nineteenth century. v TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................1 Background of the Study ..................................................................................................4 Horatio Alger in Popular Culture .....................................................................................5 Scholarship on Deceit and Performance .......................................................................11 Chapter Summaries .......................................................................................................18 CHAPTER ONE: THE DUAL ALGER MYTH: SECRECY IN ALGER’S LIFE AND LEGACY .................................................................................................................24 A Brief Biographical History of Horatio Alger, Jr. ........................................................24 The First Alger Biography .............................................................................................27 Other Explorations of Alger’s Biography .....................................................................37 Redeeming Alger after Nearly Half a Century ..............................................................44 Alger’s Own Biographical Explorations .......................................................................47 Mythologizing Horatio Alger, Jr. ..................................................................................50 CHAPTER TWO: ACTING THE PART: DISHONESTY AND PERFORMANCE IN RAGGED DICK AND FAME AND FORTUNE ......................................................54 Honesty and Intentions ..................................................................................................54 Scholarly Contributions for Ragged Dick .....................................................................61 Luck and Social Ascension ...........................................................................................76 Confidence Men and Confidence Boys .........................................................................82 Performing the Part .......................................................................................................87 The Long Con ..............................................................................................................105 CHAPTER THREE: FORMULA BREAKERS: ALGER’S LITTLE-KNOWN HEROINES ...................................................................................................................107 Before Dick Hunter Came Helen Ford ........................................................................120 Tattered Tom and the Gender Masquerade .................................................................137 A Fancy of Hers and the Social Masquerade ..............................................................149 The Most Disagreeable of All Alger’s Women: The Disagreeable Woman ...............157 vi CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................169 Gender and Dual Protagonists in Adrift in New York ...................................................173 Future Directions .........................................................................................................177 WORKS CITED ............................................................................................................179 vii 1 INTRODUCTION "You may be deceived." "If I am, I shall never put confidence in any boy again. But you haven't answered the charge, Mr. Gilbert." "It isn't worth answering," said the book-keeper, scornfully. "Still, I would be glad to have you give an answer one way or the other," persisted Mr. Rockwell. "Then it's a lie, of course." -Horatio Alger, Fame and Fortune The dissertation title quote, taken from the excerpt above, appears in the final chapter of Horatio Alger, Jr.’s Fame and Fortune: or, The Progress of Richard Hunter, a follow-up text to Ragged Dick, Alger’s most well-known novel. In this chapter, an established bookkeeper named Mr. Gilbert—who dislikes the title character because he is a “vagabond,”—utters the words “Then it’s a lie, of course” to the business owner when confronted with the accusation made by the young, and previously unreliable, Micky Maguire (270). Mr. Gilbert asserts his own honesty and offers support for his claim by suggesting that Maguire is untrustworthy solely attributable to his neglected appearance and the place he occupies within the social hierarchy. This scene is representative of many of the challenges